You'll see talk online about how Superhot is "the most innovative first-person shooter I've played in years." It's a phrase people who've played the game keep using, and there's a memetic reason for that -one I won't spoil. I will, however, have to say that I'm on board with the sentiment of the phrase despite any potential ironic usage. Because it is simply true. Superhot is the most innovative shooter I've played in years.
Fast becoming my favorite online shooter of choice, Garden Warfare 2 is lovable, preposterous, and completely rampageous. Never though I'd say this about an EA game, but it's everything a modern premium experience should be.
While other venerable franchises like Call of Duty are afraid to challenge themselves and make only halfhearted gestures toward invention, Primal plots a course through uncharted waters with a battle-tested vessel and actually commits to making its new ideas more than vapid window dressing.
Layers of Fear is well made, but commits a potentially greater sin than a game that's simply bad. It's dull. It's dreary. It's got as much bite as a beach ball. Perhaps for those who have only the lightest experience with horror games, it could be seen as authentically and astutely terrifying. For me, it's nothing new at all, and its presentation is so railroaded it might as well have been a ghost train.
Firewatch is not what many people may have wanted, but that doesn't mean it's bad. Fans of interactive drama will absolutely want to give this a try, as it shows how you can craft a "walking simulator" while keeping players involved and intrigued as opposed to ignored and bored.
Cloying adorability is Unravel's saving grace. Propped up on a crutch constructed from mawkish sentimentality, it gets away with a fair few missteps and manages to claw together a smattering of memorable moments. This pretty shell, however, is undeniably a shell, and no amount of pretty little animations can make up for a total drought of engaging game design.
American Truck Simulator remains an authentic and gratifying production, one of the few simulators out there still worthy of positive attention.
While most of this generation's avalanche of double-dips have felt cynical and unwarranted, Gravity Rush truly benefits from a change of system and a chance to reach a comparatively huge audience. It is, simply put, a better game than it used to be, and I can't complain about that.
If anything, Dark Arisen reminds me just how much I missed my time with Dragon's Dogma, and how I'd love to see another one in the works. Here's hoping Gransys has more adventures for us in future!
Hours and hours of content await for players who need a time sink. I'll confess I'm still battling my way through it, though I've sunk many slogging hours into the thing – plenty to have a good rounded view of the experience. There's so much to chew through, and so many tasks to complete, that you'll find yourself more than satisfied if you're a content hound.
Halo 5: Guardians is okay. Its campaign is rubbish, but the multiplayer is solid thanks to the foundation it's built upon. Warzone is a really enjoyable experience, and while combat is still mostly about tossing grenades and hitting the melee button, the whole Requisition gimmick adds some much-needed flavor to proceedings. It's just a shame it also adds not-needed money to Microsoft pockets.
I'd say that, if you already bought and played Resident Evil last year, this won't be an essential purchase. However, the physical release bundles both games together, and I'd say that's at least worth a punt. As far as the game on its own goes, I guess I'm kind of happy to see it.. but it just makes me long for that Resident Evil 2 do-over.
So, from a subjective standpoint, I would argue that, despite not being a great product, That Dragon, Cancer is still very good at what it does – forging a link with its audience and delivering a love-filled, mercilessly sad, story. It's being sold as a product, it should be criticized for that, but it should also be praised for the things it does so very well.
Pony Island is bloody genius.
Amplitude does a solid little job of bringing back a Harmonix classic in mechanical terms, and it can be a fun distraction in small doses, but it just doesn't provide enough to sustain itself or its audience. With an expanded setlist, more genres outside of generic electronica, and some actual memorable songs, this could have been something special.
This is not so bad it's good. It's just plain bad, and there aren't enough giant insects in the world to convince me otherwise.
Devil's Third is the videogame equivalent of a sad little erection from an old man whose mind has not aged with his depreciating body. At best, it's a curious relic from a bygone era of videogames in terms of both mechanics and attitude. At most, it's an ugly and boring game where the most interesting aspect is the prevalence an of inconsistent framerate despite looking like garbage.
It's a shame that, yet again, unrestrained lust for money on the part of a publisher has worked so hard to undo the goodwill earned by the developer's hard work. The core of Rainbow Six Siege is great – it's a game I want to absolutely adore. But it's just not a game I can recommend right now. Not at this price. Not with Ubisoft's chicanery.
Just Cause 3 is okay. It's far from great, but it's not bad either. It's just a decent waste of time. You can expect to mine at least twenty hours from it, with far more on top if you get really into it. Personally, I feel there are far better ways to waste your time, but there are far worse too. The wing suit's cute, at least.
There are moments that make me scratch my head, infuriate me, and even make me cringe, but when I consider the layered mass that is Xenoblade Chronicles X, all I can think of how damn arresting it is. How much of it is there. How much of it is thoroughly enchanting.